Releases available from all good outlets, including Monorail Music, Rubadub Records, Rough Trade Shops, Juno Records, Piccadilly Records, iTunes et al. Links to buy each record via iTunes can be found at the end of each release description.
Organs of Love "Bone" OM015
Release Date ~ 16th January 2012
Format ~ 12" Vinyl/Digital EP
Organs of Love are the power-sleaze duo of James McKinven (organs, love) and Alicia Matthews (vocals, love).
James McKinven's musical odyssey started with playing synth in (Kraftwerk, Suicide-inspired) electro band Berlin Blondes. He then moved on to Altered Images. After that he worked in Genetic Studios learning from the modern day genius that was producer Martin Rushent (Human League, The Stranglers, The Buzzcocks). Then went on to form One Dove and worked with maverick genius Andy Weatherall. After that he drifted back to where it all started, Analog Electro, and Miss Alicia Matthews.
Alicia Matthews has quite a different background - one from fine art and performance. Through working together at the same bar and having many intoxicating late night chats, they decided to try to get back to a 70s theatrical, musical PERFORMANCE: where live music and art combine for something beyond the rock gig vibe. And luckily enough, Miss Matthews has quite the pair of pipes Š a true vocal delight.
The result is ORGANS OF LOVE... who frequently perform live around Glasgow and have quite the reputation of THEE band to see. Videos can be provided, but they're not for the faint-hearted!
Digital: Juno Download | Boomkat
Chris Carter "Moonlight" OMCC002
Release Date ~ 7th November 2011
Format ~ 12" Vinyl/Digital
Originally released in 1985 for Chris Carter's "Mondo Beat" LP on Conspiracy International, "Moonlight" is getting a long-overdue single release of the original and reinterpretation from Neurotic Drum Band.
A long-time fave of JD Twitch's, "Moonlight" was a hit in the late 80s with a much-slowed down bootlegged version on the Belgian New Beat scene and amongst the Italian Cosmic DJs.
The NY duo of Ulysses and John Selway, aka Neurotic Drum Band, recreate "Moonlight" keeping the original feel, slowing it down just a touch and ultra cosmic-a-fying it for an ultra-headtrip psychedelic spaceflight!
As a special bonus, there is a digital-only remix from Oneohtrix Point Never. It's the sort of drone, dark ambient sound that fans of OPN's Daniel Lopatin know and love. Bliss out...
For those who may not know, Chris Carter is one of the founding members of Throbbing Gristle, partner with Cosey Fanni Tutti (knows as Carter-Tutti and formerly recording as Chris & Cosey) and has been working with sound for over 40 years. For an extensive biography and up-to-date info about his current projects, please visit www.chriscarter.co.uk
You may be surprised...
12": Norman Records | Phonica | Piccadilly Records | Rough Trade | Boomkat | Rush Hour
Digital: Juno Download | Boomkat
Factory Floor "~ (R E A L L O V E)" OM013
Release Date ~ 6th April 2011
Format ~ 12" Vinyl
It's early days yet, but things are going well for the London-based trio Factory Floor: Nik Colk (guitar/vocals/electronics), Gabe Gurnsey (drums/ electronics) and Dom Butler (analogue synths/vocals). And Optimo Music are in the unique position of doing a remix for Factory Floor and having a exclusive single release for it.
Live performances by Factory Floor have already developed a considerable, if forboding reputation. The NME - "Piston drums kick in, jaws drop", Artrocker "bearing withness to them in a live environment is an eye opening experience that many will benefit from"... "the antithesis of conventional pop structures". They've toured with Fuck Buttons and Cold Cave, played shows with Liars, HTRK and Andy Weatherall. Stephen Morris, the drummer and rhythm king for music legends Joy Division & New Order produced the original version and continues to work with the band on remixes and new tracks.
The Quietus wrote in January of this year of FF "crushing their former contemporaries" with "crescendo, crescendo, crescendo", "made from the three elements of Sonic Youth, Throbbing Gristle and Trance (music)".
Naum Gabo "Songs from a Great City" OM012
Release Date ~ 14th February 2011
Format ~ 12" Vinyl/Digital
When most people think of Optimo Music, they think of the long-running club night in Glasgow "Optimo (Espacio)", which ran for 12 years every Sunday, headed by JD Twitch and JG Wilkes. Label honcho JD Twitch is extremely proud to be releasing Naum Gabo, as this is the studio project of his Optimo partner, Jonnie Wilkes, along with James Savage.
This fantastic release offers two covers of two mighty Scottish acts from the late 70s/early 80s - Simple Minds and Fingerprintz. "Theme for Great Cities" was originally released in 1981, an electro-trance-funk classic, pre-dating the rave scene by about 10 years. Naum Gabo takes it, electrifies it, and turns it into a hi-fi dancefloor filler. "Wet Job" is Fingerprintz' dirty groover from '79 - again, it's reworked into a dark disco futuristic grooveride into doom. It even makes my teeth hurt, which means the frequencies are causing effect. And I know thatÕs definitely what I want happening in a nightclub.
So not 1, not 2, but 3 Scottish music greats on one slinky slice of vinyl. There's a lot of local pride in this one, folks!
The Green Door Kids "Musikal Yooth" OM011
Release Date ~ 23rd November 2010
Format ~ LP Vinyl
Ever wanted to hear a bunch of kids tearing into the Stooges "I Wanna be your Dog" and the sublime garage classic "Louie Louie"? Ever wondered what it would sound like if you let an assortment of talented young musicians from some of Glasgow finest new bands let loose in a studio to record whatever they liked? And how about two 10 year old twins from Possil (via Ghana) covering the infectious minimal dance grooves of New York's finest, ESG?
Hells bells... your wait is over!
Space System "Sorrow Show" OM010
Release Date ~ 25th October 2010
Format ~ Digital EP / 12" EP
Space System hail from Jakarta, Indonesia and are part of the Space Rec. collective who have released a wealth of wonderful music (mainly under the radar) over the last couple of years. In 2009, they sent their debut album to JD Twitch who was instantly smitten by their unique sound, incredible, beautiful production and startling originality. He instantly asked if he could release two of the standout tracks on vinyl and over a year later, here they are. When music is this great and this timeless, a year means nothing.
Optimo Music likes to keep everything in the family so on side 2, Twitch invited King Of Town who had him play in Johannesburg in 2009 to remix "Sorrow Show".
Finally, JD Twitch remixes "Nocturnal Creatures" from Space System's second album. This was originally made for a Space Rec. digital release, but Twitch reworked that mix for this vinyl release. Initially Twitch was a bit wary of remixing it as he has only ever remixed "songs" before, but ended up being delighted with the results - an understated, late-night track that a few people who have heard it have said is somewhat reminiscent of the "Jungle Book" and certainly takes direction from Twitch's love of 1950s exotica.
Chris Carter "The Spaces Between" OMCC001
Release Date ~ 20th September 2010
Format ~ Digital EP / 12" EP
Originally recorded between 1974 and 1978 at Industrial Records studio in London 'The Space Between' album was first released as a 90 minute cassette in 1980 on Throbbing Gristle's Industrial Records label. It wasn't until 1991 that it was again released by Mute Records on CD. Although tracks from 'The Space Between' have appeared on numerous compilations since its release, the album has never been available on vinyl until now.
This new vinyl edition on Optimo Music, now retitled 'The Spaces Between', doesn't include all the tracks of the original album but has been enhanced and remastered from the original two-track master tapes and has new cover artwork especially for this release. All tracks have been remastered by Chris Carter in 2009 for this release.
Musically, it's an electronic soundtrack for a sleazy sci-fi movie, with moments of uplifting beauty combined with bits of claustrophobic mania. Amazing stuff.
Louise McVey & Cracks in the Concrete "Louise McVey & Cracks in the Concrete" OM007
Release Date ~ late December '09
Format ~ Digital Single / 10” EP
Having returned to her native city Glasgow during on-going artistic explorations, Louise McVey met Graeme Miller. Their shared passion for dark unexplored musical territory has made for a very fruitful creative period; exploring dusty pianos, scuttling guitars, sonorous vocals and selective percussion. Also joined by Gordon Macpherson on drums, Jimmy O’Donnell on piano, and Garry Freckleton on bass guitar, McVey and Cracks in the Concrete create the sound of a cigar-filled room with a strangely wayward band: bow-stroking guitar and sultry torch singer wooing and terrifying the audience who are probably too mesmerised to move.
Alluring and provocative, Louise McVey & Cracks in the Concrete are just the latest in Optimo Music’s quest to find the perfect band for the next David Lynch movie. However, this one may just have too much mainstream appeal?
Listen and decide for yourself...
Older Lover "Older Lover" OM006
Release Date ~ September '09
Format ~ 10” EP
Glasgow-based artist and musician Douglas Morland's solo guise as Older Lover is a smoky, noirish take on psychedelia, with glam stylings and dub sonics thrown in for good measure. Both the flickering silhouettes and magical lustre of the silver screen and the spooky hold on the imagination of the pulsing, saturated analogue signals of the immediately pre-digital cold war period are as much influences as any musical genre, past or present.
Recorded and produced with a nod to the grain and patina of these past eras, via the homemade waywardness of Swell Maps or The Homosexuals, the Older Lover EP is an astute and compelling exercise in dark and seductive rock n roll.
"The Older Lover is black of heart and forked of tongue. He'll steal your youth, he'll tear your drum. He played guitar with thee brigands Mother and the Addicts and was known for his filthy electric scree and mellifluous twang, but is playing away from home now, darkening doorways. Billowing coattails. Shadow. Hot breath. Flash of Knives..."
Cracula ∞ Demon Seed ∞ Primitives ∞ The Protest Singer
Divorce OM005
Release Date ~ June '09
Format ~ 10” EP
Born in Glasgow through a frustration that THEIR kinda music wasn't getting heard in the city, DIVORCE decided that instead of adding to the choir of miserablists and moaners they would instead 'make their own scene'.
Brought together through random encounters, solid friendships and drunken obsessive discussions at terrible parties, the five members who make up DIVORCE (Sinead Youth: vocals - Hillary Van Scoy: guitar, vocals - VSO: bass, vocals - Andy Browntown: drums, vocals - Vickie MacDonald: guitar ) had no more of an exacting agenda than just MAKE NOISE and MAKE IT GOOD.
The end result has been likened to a roughly grafted assemblage of no-wave punk bands like Teenage Jesus & DNA, the pig-fuck noise of Big Black and Swans and the modern-styled rhythmically violent sounds of bands like AIDS Wolf, Ex Models and PRE.
Divorce are best experienced live, in a small sweaty room, with all the ear-splitting volume & uninhibited audience confrontation that goes with it. Shows in Glasgow and around the UK are being planned right now.
Early Christianity ∞ Pipe Down ∞ Juice of Youth ∞ Scissor Fight
Dollskabeat "Zodiac Rising" OM004
Release Date ~ June '09
Format ~ 10” EP
DOLLSKABEAT is a solo artist, producer and performer. Part Scot, part Belarusian, part Spacer Woman. A Gemini by sign, her musical creations rather than personality are equally split with sounds, hooks and melodies from alternative electronic, disco and RnB, whilst the arrangement and lyrics go pop in formation.
A handful of demos played on BBC 6 Music & BBC Radio 1 granted her an invite to the Maida Vale studios to record a live session as the BBC's Scottish 'Artist to Watch for 2008'. Classical piano training and home made tracks built momentum, however insight into past and present production techniques coupled with live instrumentation gave her songs new life.
DOLLSKABEAT loves to dance, play vintage synths and drum machines. She performs with her live 4 piece Dollska-band. The result is an extrovert show of sound, shapes and colours.
DOLLSKABEAT recommends you listen with open ears and hearts. Minimal synth. Maximum feel.
Zodiac Rising ∞ No Breaks No Sleep Part 1
Big Ned "Big Ned" OM003
Release Date ~ April '09
Format ~ CD
Optimo Music release the debut self-titled album from BIG NED in mid April.
"Bad Angel", the debut single for ‘Ned, is out now in the shops in ltd. 7" format – only 500 copies and backed with the 7" only track “Killer”. I’m personally waiting for the Richard Ramirez Night Stalkin’ electric chair mix.
Lux Interior will be smiling up from Hell.
Den Haan "Release the Beast" OM002
Release Date ~ March '09
Format ~ 12” EP
Den Haan are the dynamic Glasgow duo of spacial electronical disco grooves. Matt (Crème de Menthe – Disko B) and Gardi seemed to have met in some Italian discotechque circa 1979 if their sound is anything to be believed. However, they are far from a retro pastiche. They ooze camp funk, glitter and glamour – you only need to see them perform live to see what we mean. One would expect to see Giorgio himself make a guest appearance on the stage.
They list their influences being from AC/DC to Zappa, Boney M to Yello and Azoto to David Zed.
This 3-track debut 12” features “Release the Beast”, a bona-fide floorfiller in Glasgow (be it Optimo to Death Disco), “Metamophosis” – a Cowley-esque, camptastic anthem, and “Looking for Love” – pure sequential space disco.
Italo-Glasgow?
Why the hell not.
Release the Beast ∞ Metamorphosis ∞ Looking for Love
Big Ned "Bad Angel" OM001
Release Date ~ early February '09
Format ~ 7” Single (limited to 500)
BIG NED are two twisted Glaswegians: D. James Clark and John Murray, with a penchance for dark and twisted tales and tones. “Bad Angel” is backed with “Killer”, only available on this limited 7”.
Imagine David Lynch gets stuck into a barrel of booze with a big crooning cowboy. Tales of dark liaisons, women trouble and spiritual prowess are finely blended with an array of dark melodies, terror noises and warped guitars. This is an album with dysfunctional America coursing through its veins and oozing from every pore. This concoction of sleaze, fuzz and death is difficult to categorize. Who cares?
Obvious influences are David Lynch, Angelo Badalementi, Smog, Nick Cave, Elvis, Swans, Cash, Chris Isaacs ‘Wicked Game’, Carl Denver and the Gun Club. And most likely Satan.
Thrown into this electric soup is Charles Bukowski, Repo Man, Gummo, Lost Highway, Clint Eastwood, the Bible, the Devil, Glasgow City Barbers window display, Casper the Friendly Ghost, and every impressive boxer who ever entered the ring.
For Big Ned, this is the soundtrack to drag racing, zombies, drinking, shop lifting, dancing like a maniac, arm wrestling, fucking, smoking and Lee Marvin putting the boot in. One hand raised in the air with a stiff middle finger, the other raised with a glass of whisky; saluting those with charm and machismo that make music a delight and who entertain.
The debut LP from Big Ned will follow later this spring... live shows will also ensue. Expect mayhem, chaos and maybe even death. It’s hard to say….
Bad Angel ∞ Killer
